Throw the Book at Them

I sat down last weekend to watch the Chelsea v Sunderland game on live TV over here in Dublin. Before the game all the odds were on a home win and another three points in the race for the title for the Chelsea. Unbeaten at home in the premier league under Mourinho, surely they had enough to beat Sunderland. How wrong can you be and I wonder how many people had taken a bet on the Mackems getting anything at the Bridge. What was to unfold has had so much fall out this week I just had to get my fingers tapping and try and put a calm perspective on the whole thing. Let me take you through the main talking points below.

As I see it there was four real talking points in the game. Firstly I do feel that Adam Johnson was a lucky boy not to be sent off by referee Mike Dean for a challenge on a Chelsea player in the first half. It was high and reckless and verging on dangerous,Dean yellow carded him but with all the criteria laid out for a red card I felt he should have received one. Then we have the incident of Ramires lashing out with an elbow into Larsson's face. I do not see how Mike Dean did not see it,but he didn't and these things happen. More to the point is the fact that Ramires has only returned from a ban after been sent off for an horrific challenge on an Aston Villa player quite recently. This guy is becoming a liability to his team with such rash behaviour. Then we have the penalty incident,now I can buy into people saying some penalties are harsh but the one Mike Dean awarded to Sunderland last weekend was 100% correct and in my opinion was a penalty every day of the week,I really can't see what the Chelsea complaints were all about. Maybe it's the fact that they had known they had blown the title and in a game they would have expected to win. So that,s all the on field issues sorted. Let me take you to the technical area and the meltdown of Mourinho's assistant manager Faria. He was so out of order it's incredible. He had to be forcefully removed from the area, and in my opinion if he had not been things could have got a hell of a lot worse. How can players behave on the pitch when you see that sort of carry on from the management team, he ought to be ashamed of himself.

So Sunderland had pulled off a wonderful result to give them a real chance of premiership survival and just as I was settling down after all the madness,I get word from a contact at Chelsea that Mourinho has had an amazing after match interview with the BBC. In it he applauded Mike Dean for his performance and he applauded referee chief Mike Reilly for his performance this season, sarcastic to the core again Jose. Well he has gone to far this time and in my opinion he is fast becoming a pain in the backside,in fact sometimes he talks out of it. I was delighted to see the FA hit Ramires, Faria and Mourinho with charges this week and I for one hope they throw the book at them. I also think the club should have been hit with a charge as well,because these guys need to be reigned in and told to control themselves. It is bad for football to see this thuggery and this is not a once off,there at it all the time. So let us see what punishment is handed out and then we will see if the FA have the balls to take on the big boys.

The Glazers Bottled It

This time last year Manchester United were crowned Premier League champions once again. The difference with this winning campaign to all the rest was that it was to be Sir Alex Ferguson,s last, as in a shock announcement,one of the greatest managers ever in the English game had decided to call time on a glittering career and decided to step down. Family reasons were given by Fergie as his reason to step down as he wanted to spend more time with his beloved wife Cathy after the death of her sister. Also

leaving the Manchester United boardroom was chief executive David Gill. David was off to take up a big job in Europe. How could such a big club manage with two retirements at such a level in the club and where would the future of the this club end up. Step forward David Moyes to the managers job and Ed Woodward into the boardroom. The appointment of Moyes was the perfect step forward for United and at the time most fans and media did agree. In fact I don't seem to remember many dissenting voices to his appointment. Moyes was heralded into Old Trafford by a rousing speech by Fergie on his last home game,he left the fans in no doubt that they were to back the new manager and give him all the support he needed to succeed. What was to follow over the coming months was a story of no board support for Moyes and eventually ending up with him losing his job at Old Trafford last Tuesday.

As the season kicked off United claimed another prize by bagging the Charity Shield and David's first trophy. But all was not well behind the scenes. Moyes had targeted a few players to bolster his squad and as the transfer window slowly closed he was let down on a few targets eventually only bringing in Fellani from his old club Everton. New chief executive Ed Woodward had failed at his first big test. In my opinion the team Fergie left behind needed a few players to replace the old guard. Two centre halves, a ball winner in midfield, a left back, and another striker were the simple requirements. On his first step into this huge job, Moyes was now heading for trouble. Home defeats became more frequent and we all know the basis off any title challenge has to be good home form. It was obvious from October onwards that United would not be challenging for the title this season and in fact top four could be looking dodgy as well. In my opinion the signing of Mata in the January window was a last throw of the dice and a risky one at that. Having a player of Mata's quality and not been able to play him in every game did not help Moyes' cause. On top of all that, Fellani had not settled well after his huge move to such a big club and his performances had been awful.

Earlier this season I wrote an article saying the Glazers should give the new manager time and let him build his own team from top to bottom. On reflection if David did anything wrong the one thing I will say is, he possibly should have kept Mike Phelan and work with him to keep the winning continuity in the dressing room. Alas it is always great to see things in hindsight,but one thing I did not see was professional players throwing in the towel and just giving up. Last weekends performance by the players at Goodison Park was despicable and they finally shoved the knife into the managers back and twisted it. It has become a way in the game over the past few years, that players just down tools and give up. It happened at Chelsea twice with AVB and big Phil Scolari and if that is the way football is going well I think the fans should think twice before adoring these overpaid ego maniacs.

I for one was saddened to hear all the rumors going around last Monday that Moyes was to be sacked. For such a great club to be leaking such information to the media is below contempt and as it stands this morning, there reputation is in the gutter. There is no doubt in my mind David will come back from this a much stronger manager and for those of you who are old enough to remember, the Leeds United team of the seventies once shafted Brian Clough and he went on to win championships and two European Cups. So as the dust starts to settle at Old Trafford I wish the club all the best for the future but my main thoughts are for David Moyes and his family. I have no doubt he will be back in management in the not to distant future and I for one hope he is successful, after all David Moyes is one of the nice guys of football and on top of all that a gentleman.

Tighten it up Ref

Last week I blogged about my views on who I thought could win this seasons Barclays Premier League. I also stated, that I hoped a bad refereeing decision would not decide this years champions. So I must admit I was left fuming last weekend with the performance of Anthony Taylor; followed up by the performance by Mark Clattenburg who just  put the cherry on the cake. It is quite ironic that the decisions have fallen in favour for Liverpool and that now makes the men from Anfield championship favourites. It is just not acceptable that when it has come down to the last few games,referees decisions have been called wrong. Let me below talk about the decisions that I have seen, that have changed the destiny of the Barclays Premier League this season.

Firstly let me take you back to last Sunday week and the game between West Ham and Liverpool at Upton Park. It was a pretty normal game for a referee of the top standard to handle until Anthony shot himself in the foot by allowing a Demel goal to stand, when you could clearly see that Andy Carroll had fouled the keeper on the cross. Not just a push,but a clear slap at the keepers head. Now the referee missed it,but to then make a complete and utter mess of the whole thing he failed to listen to advice given to him by his assistant, who was trying to help the referee sort out the mess. In fact what it showed to me was that the referee did not trust his assistant,and this is why he failed to accept the advice given. Then to really make matters worse, he gives a dodgy penalty to Liverpool, in my opinion it was never a penalty and the goalkeeper clearly played the ball. So Mr.Taylor had an awful day and he got all the big decisions wrong. A referee should always get the big decisions right and this defines his game.So no gold medal for Anthony on his game, in fact I thought he was very poor.

Fast forward to one week later and the big one at Anfield between Liverpool and Manchester City. For the best games you need the best referees, and it was given to Mark Clattenburg. Personally I think it was to soon after his performance in the Manchester United and Liverpool game to have him take charge of this one. My feelings were proved correct as not only did Mark make one big game changing mistake,he in fact made three blunders which in fact had a direct bearing on the result of the game. The first mistake he made was not sending off Suarez for a clear dive in the second half. The Liverpool player had been booked early in the game and his dive should have warranted a second yellow. It would have been so easy but I feel Mark bottled it. The second mistake was he did not award Man.City a penalty when Dzeko was taken down by Sakho if this had happened outside of the penalty area I have no doubt a free kick would have been awarded.Then right at the very end both Mark and his assistant missed a clear hand ball by Liverpool defender Skirtel. There is no question it was a hand ball and it should have been a penalty. But I suppose if you were to give a penalty in front of the Kop so late in the game with the home team leading, you would need balls of steel,unfortunately Mark obviously had not. Overall I am very disappointed with the two referees, as I would prefer not to be discussing poor decisions but ones that are of the excellent variety. Until next week enjoy your football and hopefully your team wins,without a bad decision by the man in the middle.

The heat is on!

Last weekend there was not an awful lot of controversy around the game for me to report on, so if I may as be so bold this week, as to try and predict where the Barclays Premier League title is going. It is as if the runners are coming around the bend and entering the home straight. In my opinion their are only three runners left now that can win it. Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City, all the rest have slipped away and are going out the back door as the other three stretch away. So let me try and unfold the run in, below.

Both Liverpool and Chelsea have to play six games and City have eight left.City and Chelsea have to go to Anfield and this is where I think the Liverpool machine may falter. They are going along at such a rate of knots at the moment it will be a shock to them if they don't take all the points from those two games. A good friend of mine from Galway city Gerry McDermott has been saying Liverpool will win the league since January, but I feel in the end, the pressure will just be too much.When it comes down to the business end of a season it tends to be the teams that have been through it all before that end up champions. In my opinion it will be City,s title.They have two games left on Merseyside at Anfield and Goodison and if they bag the points in those two games well then Vincent Kompany will lift the trophy.When Chelsea visit Anfield, my old mate Jose Mourinho will have his team set up in such a way that Chelsea won't lose.One other fixture on the horizon that my friend Gerry should also be worried about is Liverpool's trip to Selhurst Park.Tony Pulis in my opinion should be manager of the year for the job he has done at Palace. So all in all that is three tough games for Liverpool on the run in.It is quite amazing that City also have to play Palace and the Eagles will have a big say in the race for the championship.

No matter what way the cookies fall it has been a great season with plenty of excitement and debate.That to me is what the beautiful game should be all about. It has been a great season for debate on social networks every weekend,some discussions even got heated between friends.With us now into the final run in, I am sure the debates will go on and on.But when all is said and done and the final whistle blows at the end of the season, in my opinion Manchester City will get the gold medal. The Premier League is looking good and let us just hope next season gets even better and we could be looking at a six horse race for the title. I really really do hope so,So over the next few weeks enjoy the games and hopefully whoever wins they will do it without and refereeing controversy.Can I just finish off by praising Gerry for his prediction and if the Pool do win the league, can you send me next weeks winning lotto numbers Ger. Until next week enjoy your football and stay safe.